Injuries, poor seasons buried 2013 Padres

San Diego Padres catcher Yasmani Grandal, left, reacts after he was injured on a play at home as Washington Nationals' Anthony Rendon (6), who was out on the play, looks on during the third inning of a baseball game on Saturday, July 6, 2013, in Washington. The Nationals won 5-4. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
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San Diego Padres catcher Yasmani Grandal, left, reacts after he was injured on a play at home as Washington Nationals' Anthony Rendon (6), who was out on the play, looks on during the third inning of a baseball game on Saturday, July 6, 2013, in Washington. The Nationals won 5-4. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
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One of the problems facing the Padres moving forward is that they can’t finger any one thing that went wrong in 2012.

A lot of things went wrong.

Early in the season, the problem was the starting pitching. By the end of the season, the starting pitching had become the strength of the team.

Injuries, suspensions, lack of situational hitting and a disappointing season by Chase Headley coming off his 31-homer, 115-RBIs campaign of 2012 conspired against the Padres in 2013.

Players the Padres were counting on in 2013, including starting pitchers Edinson Volquez and Clayton Richard, simply didn’t come through – either through injury or non-performance.

Not once this season was Padres manager Bud Black able to go with the lineup he projected at the end of the 2012 season.

Bookending the 162 games were the 50-game, performance-enhancing drug suspensions to Yasmani Grandal and Everth Cabrera.

In the heart of the season, the Padres lost outfielders Carlos Quentin and Cameron Maybin and catcher Grandal to season-ending injuries that required surgical repairs. And first baseman Yonder Alonso was extremely limited as soon as he was hit on the right hand by a pitch on May 31.

From April 23-June 21, the Padres went 33-21 to move to two games above .500 and to within striking distances in the National League West. But in a span of 18 days, the Padres lost Alonso with a broken hand, rookie second baseman Jedd Gyorko with a groin strain, Cabrera with a hamstring strain and Maybin with the knee injury.

The Padres lost 13 of their next 15 games to fall back to last in the division. The rest of the season became another audition for the future.

So much time was lost by key players that Gyorko became the first player since Nate Colbert in the franchise's inaugural season of 1969 to lead the team in both home runs (23) and RBIs (63). And the RBI total was the lowest ever by the Padres team leader in a non-strike season in the history of the franchise.

Looking back at 2013 Padres

The Padres went 16-10 over their final 26 games as Andrew Cashner and Tyson Ross developed into promising starting pitchers and rookies Robbie Erlin and Burch Smith turned themselves into candidates for spots in the rotation.

Offensively, the likes of Gyorko, team Most Valuable Player Will Venable, Headley and Chris Denorfia finished strong enough to once again give the Padres hope for 2014. But that was also the case the past two seasons. And the Padres started slow in both 2012 (7-17) and 20-13 (5-15).